Missouri Science & Technology Women’s Soccer – Coach Jane Grimley-Gunn
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Jane Grimley-Gunn from the Missouri Science & Technology Women’s Program. We talk about social media in recruiting. She describes their distinctive campus and fun activities it has. Lastly, we discuss their unique roster size. Learn more about Missouri Science & Technology Women’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Jane from Missouri s and t. Welcome. Hey, how are you? Doing well, thanks. Thanks for joining. Uh, excited to have you on. Um, I know you guys just kind of wrapped up your season, so I’m guessing hot and heavy into the recruiting trail.
So when is it that you guys are really starting to, to talk to players? What year in school are they? Are you, where are you at with your 23 class? What’s that look like?
Coach: Sure. So being a division two school, we are maybe more limited than some other divisions. So we do obviously have to wait until June 15th, um, going into their, their junior year, so after their sophomore year.
And that’s typically when we might start some of the initial conversations, just getting to know players in their interests, what they’re looking for. Um, but I would say it generally really ramps up into your junior year, especially in the spring, headed into your senior year. Looking at our 23 class now, we’re about halfway done with a lot of players.
Really approaching a decision by the end of the calendar year, like before the Christmas holiday. So I think we’re in a pretty good spot, but we’re also open and understand that everyone’s timeline’s a bit different. So if someone comes along later on, there may still be an opportunity as well.
Matt: Okay, well it being, uh, you know, kind of kicking off the, the showcase and tournament season, uh, do are, there are kind of must see tournaments and events that are on your list for, for the recruiting trail.
Coach: Definitely. So, so far after our season, we’ve seen one C N L event. Um, there will be [00:01:30] a Girls Academy event that will attend in next year, in the summer of spring and summer of 2023. Um, we’ll be attending Castle, which is the. North Carolina showcase. It’s a pretty selective one coming up. Um, so yeah, I guess just ones where there’s a good pool of qualified teams where hopefully you can see multiple players in a single occasion as opposed to having to go to one game where you may not have as many opportunities to see players that would be a good fit.
Matt: Okay. Now what about camps? Do you guys host your own? Do you and your staff work? Others? How important are camps to your recruiting?
Coach: Yeah, we just actually did a camp yesterday, so that one was hosted by a different organization. It was at S I U E, um, in. Illinois, and that was one of those where there’s multiple coaches there who are working the camp and whatnot.
Um, we have one of our own occurring at the end of December, and then looking into the spring, there’s a couple of ID clinics that we’ll plan to attend as well with more of the focus on the 24 class. So it’s really crucial. I think it’s a great way that players can express their interest by making the effort to attend a camp where a coach that they know will be, as opposed to the coach always having to attend a game or a showcase where the player’s already going to.
Matt: For sure. Well, whether it’s at a camp or clinic or or a tournament. When you’re looking at players, kind of, what’s that hierarchy of things that you’re looking for, whether that’s on the field stuff or off the field stuff.
Coach: So I think there’s some key things that you notice right from the start. How are they interacting with their teammates?
How are they interacting with their coach, the [00:03:00] referee? Just those initial things that hopefully are not a red flag where there’s disrespect, dis descent, a bad work ethic. Anything that you just know wouldn’t be a good part of your program or wouldn’t be good for your culture. Um, beyond that, you want them to be able to perform at a high level somewhere, something where you feel like they could come into your program and pretty immediate.
Make an impact and not need an immense amount of time to adjust to the speed of play or the physicality or whatever that may be. Um, and yeah, ultimately I think another big part of it is the classroom as well. Especially being an academic institution like we are where it is pretty challenging, the course load is pretty difficult.
Um, that’s something we also have to take into consideration cuz it is a major part of them being a student athlete, not just an athlete.
Matt: For sure. Well, When it comes to, uh, hearing from players and being exposed to players, I’m sure you’re not just going to tournaments and randomly watching games. Um, what is it that you’re looking for when a player reaches out and, and, and really kind of what sets them apart in terms of someone you’re gonna look further into?
Coach: Sure. So obviously year is important. So understanding where they are in the recruiting process, if they have film available, I think that’s a great way to open the door just to get a sense of what their abilities are, what kind of player they are. Um, and I think the way that they craft a communication to us, like an email or whatever it may be, the more effort that they put in, the more customized that it is.
I think that stands out. The [00:04:30] masses of emails that you may get. And we’ve even some seen some recently that are like a little bit funny, like must see player can’t miss and they’re like talking about themself, but it’s did stand out. So just ways to make it a bit more unique because we do get a ton of emails and you can tell a lot of them are copy and pasted from with the same template.
So trying to make it as specific to the person if.
Matt: Yeah, well mentioned this to you earlier. Love following you on, on TikTok, and, and we, we try to clip some of the answers you’ll give and post them as TikTok so later on. Awesome. Um, but what. Can a player do with regard to social media, whether to help them stand out or, or tips to make sure they don’t stand out in a negative way?
Coach: Yeah. Uh, there’s, that’s the crazy thing about social media. It can go both ways and coaches are actively looking on both sides of it as well, so. Big platforms that I think we’ve seen recently sort of arise are Twitter and Instagram as almost creating like a portfolio as a player of additional highlights, a bit about their personality, any upcoming games.
Um, we talked about this yesterday at the camp we attended that it can be a really good way for college coaches to start to understand who you are a bit more as a person beyond just your highlight reel. What is, you know, your personality like? How would you fit into their team culture? What kind of person are you?
What are your. Cause that’s important to the college coach too. Beyond just, you know, what you can do on the field. They want the comprehensive picture. Um, so Instagram, Twitter, both really good resources. TikTok is obviously one that I use and it can be [00:06:00] helpful as well. Um, but any sort of platform, I think where you could represent yourself in a positive light can be a good resource or just, you know, strength to your bow to have accessible if the coach was interested or wants to learn more about you.
Things to avoid, obviously are. Literally, a coach said this yesterday is like, if you see a player who’s 16 years old and just going out drinking, like that’s probably not the message that you’d wanna give. And everyone laughed, but like it’s a reality. It does seriously happen. So just, you know, avoiding the obvious red flags, drinking drug use, even like profanity, really like extreme posts about, you know, Your personal views, sometimes they may not match what the school represents or what the coach is looking for.
So just doing your best to keep it professional like you would if you were applying for a job. It’s a very similar process, um, ensuring that you know, it’s positive representation. It’s who you want to be in your best light, and keeping those other parts of your life a bit more private, where it could be seen as, you know, something that maybe a coach doesn’t want to be incorporated into their program.
Matt: Yeah, great advice. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school itself. Um, folks who may not be familiar with Missouri s t but as a parent, one of my first questions is always gonna be, okay. What’s this gonna cost me? Uh, I’m not holding you any hard numbers here, but can you just gimme, gimme a, uh, an overview of kind of the overall, uh, cost, financial aid, academic money?
What, what does the athletic money situation look like? Just kind of nuts and bolts. Sure. For what?
Coach: [00:07:30] So if this, we are a institution where the, the costs are different in-state and out-of-state, so that is a pretty significant difference. Um, and generally there are additional scholarships for out-of-state students, which try to bring it a little bit closer to in-state costs.
Um, for a in-state student, when you’re looking at tuition, room and board, all of the fees, you’re probably looking at somewhere between like 20 and $25,000, you know, all in before you start to really chip away at that with scholarships and on the out-of-state. Close to double, but there are more and greater scholarships given, so it does somewhat balance out, but typically in-state, slightly cheaper.
Um, for athletic scholarship, there are a couple of different ways it can be broken down. We have different pots of money that we’re able to give. We have certain scholarships that are only for out-of-state students, like a waiver that could help them get closer to in-state. Um, and then there’s other bits and pieces that depend on the student and kind of their athletic performance.
And also there’s some unique to like major, um, where they’re from, diversity, those sorts of things. So the major part of their scholarships really comes from academics, and that’s where you’re gonna get the most significant amount, I would say, of money to really. Across the board, that’s kind of where it’s more standardized and there’s more opportunity.
Um, in state you can cut away almost like half your costs and outta state it’s almost double that. So that’s really where you’re looking at, you know, if you’re focusing a lot of your energy, the. Amount of scholarship we have on the athletic side is generally smaller, at least at our school. [00:09:00] Um, and just being a women’s soccer program and that sort of thing, it may be different in different sports, but we don’t have, you know, an immense amount of funds being in division two school to give everyone a full ride.
And I think that can be a common misconception. So focusing the energy on athletics or academics and ensuring that’s also being taken care of, because that’s where, for us at least, we can really. utilize that amount of money as a selling point that, you know, that’s, if you’re putting the working in the classroom, that’s gonna really benefit you and it’s gonna produce your costs pretty significantly.
Matt: For sure. Well, there’s probably some folks out there who have never heard of Missouri s and t. Uh, so can you kind of give us some of the, the, the inside scoop? What are some awesome things about the school that maybe we’re not gonna learn just by visiting the.
Coach: Sure. So obviously we’re more of a science and engineering related school.
Um, the male to female ratio is pretty interesting. So it’s a one to four ratio for every one female. There’s four males, so that kind of lends to the majors that we have available. But it’s a cool thing as a female sports program, I think, cause we have a lot of pretty cool women who are in this field and trying to do a really good.
Um, something unique about us is our St. Patrick’s Day celebration is absolutely insane. It’s a whole week long thing. Kids have off class. We can’t have practice. It’s a whole break outside of spring break where there’s parades, concerts, all these different events because. Patron Saint of Engineering is St.
Patrick, so that’s kind of the relation there. Um, but it’s a cool place. It’s a good size campus, really comfortable. There’s fraternities, sororities, it’s a small town, so they keep [00:10:30] you involved with those sorts of things. Um, and it’s pretty picturesque, I would say. It’s pretty nature. There’s hiking, there’s rivers, the Ozarks aren’t very far away.
Um, so it’s a unique place in that way. It’s, I think it’s comfortable with Tony and it’s a good place both academically and for competitive.
Matt: Speaking of academics and competitive sports, uh, you know, how do your student athletes really balance the pull of both of those things? And what kind of support mechanisms does the school offer to help?
Coach: I would say here is really challenging. So it is difficult to balance. That’s something that we have to be very cognizant as coaches to understand when we can really push and when we may have to ease up because there are multiple demands on our student athletes plates. Um, for us it’s. , you know, kind of having that mutual understanding.
We do a lot of, we do a lot of surveying, a lot of asking questions, understanding when their workload is higher, how can we manage it, how can we help you? Um, and the school has a lot of resources available as well, like tutoring, counseling, all of those sorts of things because it’s known that it is difficult.
Um, we feel sometimes our results reflect, That as well. Like during times when there’s finals or midterms, when we have games, sometimes we don’t perform as well. So we do have to really be aware of the demand and manage that as much as possible to ensure that we’re still getting the most out of our athletes without making their lives more difficult or making soccer just so another kind of burden or something that they don’t enjoy because they’re, you know, they have a lot going on.
They have to kind of juggle and.
Matt: Yeah. Well, can you walk me through what a [00:12:00] typical week during the season looks like in terms of that balance? Like winter meals, classes, practice? Yeah. What’s the, the kind of the, the travel scenarios, all that kind of thing? Yeah.
Coach: The good thing is, I think it’s, Very routine.
It’s pretty set in stone, which makes it easier for, I think even like a freshman coming in, you have a pretty set schedule so your classes can start, you know, anytime in the morning and the latest will be around 6:30 PM that you would have a lab or something like that. And that’s when we’ll start practice.
So our practices are pretty standard in the evening, six 30 to 8:00 PM and it won’t really have. that conflict. Um, so a normal week would look like Monday. You would typically have off then Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we would train in the evening with your classes in the morning. We have games on Friday and Sunday, and if we’re traveling, then you may be away Friday, Saturday, Sunday if the two games are close by each other.
And that would be made with the biggest demand is when we’re away that you still have to manage. , you know, your homework, not being in your dorm room, not being in the library, and still kind of juggling those responsibilities. But that happens maybe like twice a season. Otherwise, you’re at home, you’re maybe doing a light practice on Saturday, but you kind of have your weekend set aside for the games.
It won’t really interrupt your class schedule too severely. You won’t miss too many classes. Um, and your practices are in the evening, so chunk of your day, the bulk of your day in the middle is for your academics and trying to balance getting your classes done, homework done, all of those sorts of. .
Matt: Okay.
Well let’s, let’s talk more about, about the, the team and, and the soccer side of things. Is there, uh, is there a roster size that you’re trying to hit every year that your ideal roster size?
Coach: Yeah, it’s actually [00:13:30] unique here. So because of that one to four ratio, male to female, for every one female athlete, they’re has to be four male athletes.
That’s a Title IX like equality thing based on our ratio. So we actually have to have a pretty small roster where, Other programs are trying to build really not big rosters, but larger rosters. We have to keep a tour around 26. That’s the target that we’re asked to hit. Um, previously we had a larger roster and now we’re trying to narrow it down and whittle down to that number.
So we’ll probably be around 28 next season and 26 the following. And once we get there, it’ll be pretty steady at 26, um, which I like. It’s not bad. Once you get to a point where those 26 players are contributing and they’re strong impact players, it’s better to. Sometimes less. It makes it a little bit easier when you’re traveling, when you’re doing all these sorts of events, there’s less players being left home.
More players are getting plenty time and being involved. So once we get to that point, and I think it’ll be a nice thing, it’s just a bit of a transition. Trying to certainly start to reduce as big classes graduate out, we’re bringing in less, and that can be a little bit tricky, but it’s just something we have to navigate.
Yeah.
Matt: Okay. Well what about staff? You know, how many staff do you have? What role do they play?
Coach: And everything. That’s the tricky one here. . So I’m obviously the head coach. My husband’s the assistant, but he is a volunteer assistant. So that is a blessing that I have that, you know, not every coach here has the opportunity or, um, not having assistant I think is really difficult just because there’s.
30 players, and there’s one of me is really [00:15:00] difficult as one person to meet everyone’s needs. It’s also maybe not advantageous when we were talking about like, I don’t know, playing style, you know, just discussions during the game, discussions during practice. I think having multiple perspectives brings the best out of everyone.
Um, so for us, I think that’s a big benefit that we do have. You know, an assistant who’s super dedicated and committed. I’d love to have a goalkeeper coach. That’s one thing that I think we’re still missing and we’re trying to pick it up to the best of our reality, but we’re not goalkeepers. So that’s, I just have a level of respect for goalkeeping coaches, cause I think they have a whole.
understanding and knowledge that field players really never get a taste of, but it’s a little bit different in reverse. As a goalkeeper, you can still, I think, coach field players pretty well and easily. So that’s one thing I think if I hadn’t asked that would make, you know, the coaching staff a bit more comprehensive.
That would be the biggest thing.
Matt: Yeah, I think that’s a good point. I think you see a lot of x goalkeepers as, as coaches for, for a lot of reasons. Um, well, so you mentioned, you know, Talking to players and that kind of thing. So can you describe your style of coaching and your team style of play?
Coach: Sure. So coaching style, this is always a tough question cause I have an opinion on it, but I’d love to hear what my players say sometimes as well.
Um, but I like it to be somewhat collaborative. I don’t wanna be the dictator. I don’t think we as a staff want that. Um, we want them to have input to. Say to feel like they’re contributing and their thoughts are valued and that it’s not just, it has to be this way because of this way. Like they’re, they see things as well, and they’re, they also have experiences that we wanna take [00:16:30] into consideration.
So, um, we do want there to be open communication. I don’t want ’em to be something where they feel like they don’t have. I don’t know, input or an opportunity to craft their soccer experience, how they would like. Um, but as for like tactically, we were pretty flexible. This season. We played a four war, two diamond, um, based on personnel.
That’s probably not necessarily the thing that we’d want to do every year, I think. , the formation is just a starting point. It’s the kind of the pieces that you have, you know how it looks. At one point it may be very different at a different phase of the game or a different point in the game. So the playing style, the, the, the objectives, our principles, I think are really what we want to remain the same regardless of the shape.
Um, but we’d like to have central dominance. We wanna be able to keep the ball. We’d like to go outta the back. Um, It being redundant and just unnecessary level of passing. We wanna play forward. We want to, you know, contribute to the attack, have outside backs join, have other players join, create overloads, be somewhat direct in that way of getting forward and keeping the ball on the opponent’s half.
That would be the objective if we could all the time. Doesn’t always look like that, but that would be the goal, to really try to be, you know, make it really difficult on the opponent and keep it in areas that we feel are dangerous and. Opportunities to score that are fun to watch creative. It’s a good brand of soccer.
That would be the goal. Okay.
Matt: Well, you know, obviously the season’s over now and you got a ways to go before you hit August. So can you just give me a, a rough outline of what, what the rest of this off season looks like? What are your Sure [00:18:00] players doing now between now and then?
Coach: So right now we’re doing something pretty low-key.
We’re playing foots all as a team and they’re in little subgroups and they’re just playing like a round robin style weekly. So that’s just something to kind of keep them involved without. overwhelming them with soccer. Cause I do want them to kind of sit, take a step away, focus on their academics, fall back in love with it so that when we go back into the spring, they’re feeling refreshed and recharged and ready to go.
So come January we’ll have a real focus on like strength and conditioning. They’ll be doing that three times a week. And then we’ll have two to three practices with a ball that’ll be like an hour long, somewhat skills-based, a bit more technical. Team focus, less tactical. Cause we don’t have any games until around the April timeframe.
So once we get to March, we’ll rev up to four practices a week, start to get in bigger environments. Um, right now we have an indoor space that we can use. Indoor turf that’s pretty small, so it doesn’t really lend to doing anything too large. It’ll be a lot of small sided play, but once it’s a bit warmer we can expand out into a full field.
A bigger field. I think we’ll talk more tactically and, and be able to do that while still keeping the strength and conditioning. A bit higher than in the regular season. So they’ll be doing more of that, a bit more of individual focused, individual skill work. Um, less, I guess, less team focused until we get to the point where we’re playing.
There’s a couple of games where we hope to try new things and see if we can start to build with the players that we have before we bring in the next class.
Matt: Okay. Well we, we’ve talked about a lot of different things and uh, I always like to end these the same way. And that’s what didn’t we talk about.
What else would you like us to know, whether that’s about [00:19:30] recruiting, about the team, about the school, or anything else? Uh, leave you with the last word.
Coach: Oh, this is a tough one. I don’t like when it’s, when it’s on my plate. . I don’t know. There’s nothing, I feel like that’s, that we’ve.
Matt: What? Hey that in, I think 120 some interviews, that’s a first.
I’ve got somebody who doesn’t have. Uh, well, any advice then to any high school freshman, sophomore, junior, as they embark on this
Coach: journey? Yeah, so I would say be proactive. That’s something that I think is important. Start to create those lists of schools you might be interested in early on in your high school, you know, journey.
Um, the sooner you can get started when ju just like the initial research, the easier it’ll be as you go forward. , take your time, go through it. Take your time, sending the emails, make sure you’re addressing the right coach. You’re sending them properly, you’re doing all those things right? And be persistent.
It may be more than one email before you get a response back. And if you’re, you know, a, let’s say a freshman or sophomore, you may never, you may not get a response yet cause they’re unable to talk to you. So consider that as well. Um, and that everyone’s recruiting timeline is, So if you are a senior right now and you feel like everyone else has made a commitment and you still have not, there is still a program for you, there’s still an opportunity.
Don’t feel pressure. Don’t rush into a decision. It’s a really big decision. So, you know, take the time that you need, do your best with that, and just try to find the right place as soon as you can without it being, you know, too forced or too rush. Two rush. Cuz it’s four years of your life that if you’re not [00:21:00] playing soccer, you should be able to enjoy as well in case you get injured or something like that.
Matt: Absolutely. Well, I, I love that advice. Couldn’t agree more. Coach, really appreciate the time. Wish you the best of luck, uh, finishing up the recruiting class and, and next season. And if you’re in Philly for the coaches convention, please swing by say hello. I’ll be there. Well, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll be there on podcast row and I look forward to meeting you in person.
Cool. Awesome. Sounds great. All right, thanks, coach. Thank you.
